of the dishes on the Bob’s Pantry menu were “inspired” by dishes from his previous places of employment and restaurants that he frequented, like White Log’s pancakes and C.C. Brown’s Ice Cream Parlor’s hot fudge sundae. The red hamburger relish from Rite Spot found its way onto the creation that would catapult Bob’s Pantry into the world of burger legend.
In February 1937, members of the Glendale High School orchestra were having their usual burger meal when one of them asked for “something different, something special?” as he recalled in an interview for the Milwaukee Journal on December 16, 1958. It was that day that he created a sandwich that has been imitated a million times over, the original double-deck hamburger.
The original double-deck hamburger had a sesame bun that was sliced twice to create a middle piece of bread. If it sounds familiar, it’s because it has had hundreds of restaurant imitators, including the most famous one, McDonald’s Big Mac. I’m going to use McDonald’s Big Mac lingo for the next paragraph: the bottom bun is the heel, the middle one is the club, and the sesame-seed top is the crown.
The heel was topped with a two-ounce beef patty, a slice of American cheese, and one and a half ounces of shredded lettuce with mayo, in that order. The club was placed on the bottom two-ounce beef patty. The upper half was stacked with red relish (sweet pickle relish, ketchup, and chili sauce), another two-ounce beef patty, and mayo, with the crown on top.
There are two different stories about the origins of the Big Boy burger name. One involves a chubby six-year-old named Richard Woodruff who helped out around Bob’s Pantry. He was paid in burgers. A short time after the double-deck hamburger’s creation, Wian called Woodruff “Big Boy,” and the name stuck. There’s also the rumor that Woodruff was originally nicknamed “Fat Boy,” but the name couldn’t be used because of a Fat Boy’s Bar-B-Q restaurant, so they chose the next best thing, “Big Boy.”
The original sketch for the iconic Big Boy character with the checkered overalls and burger in hand was drawn by Warner Brothers animation artist Ben Washam. Washam and Wian had worked together at the White Log Coffee Shop. Wian renamed Bob’s Pantry after his now famous double-deck hamburger, Bob’s Big Boy.
The Big Boy character would become as much of an icon as the sandwich. Large statues were erected outside restaurants and were famously stolen or kidnapped by pranksters. The Big Boy led to a favorite line of merchandising that exists to this day. I remember owning a Bob’s Big Boy bank when I was a child.
Bob’s Big Boy Licensing
Let’s start calling Wian by his first name of Bob. It’s a little friendlier. In 1938, a second Bob’s Big Boy opened. The original location expanded, and curb service was added to both restaurants. Bob’s sister Dottie moved over from Rite Spot to be a carhop at her brother’s establishment.
It wasn’t until the late 1940s that the Big Boy name would start to spread nationwide with the additions of Frisch’s Big Boy (Cincinnati, Ohio), Eat’n Park Big Boy (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), Parkette Big Boy (Charleston, West Virginia; it became Shoney’s Big Boy in 1954), and Elias Brothers Big Boy (Detroit, Michigan). Shoney’s sub-franchised the Big Boy sandwich and name on behalf of Bob’s Big Boy.
Bob was licensing to these franchisees the opportunity to sell his Big Boy double-deck hamburger, but not to use of the name of “Bob’s Big Boy.” This is why you normally found the words “Big Boy” proceeded with the possessive form of the owner’s name.
How many exactly were there? Well, let’s see. There was…
Abdow’s, Arnold’s, Azar’s, Becker’s, Bud’s, Chez Chap, Don’s, Eat’n Park, Elby’s, Elias Brothers, Franklin’s, Frejlach’s, Frisch’s, JB’s (US), JB’s (Canada), Kebo’s, Ken’s, Kip’s, Lendy’s, Leo’s, Manners, Marc’s, McDowell’s, Mr. B’s, Shap’s, Shoney’s, Ted’s, TJ’s, Tops, Tote’s, Tune’s, Vip’s, and Yoda’s.
I’m not even counting all of the chubby-kid imitator restaurants that sprouted up to try and catch some of that Bob’s Big Boy magic.
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